When did Pennsylvania’s favorite month become its most exhausting? Ask any Pennsylvanian stuck mid-crawl on the Schuylkill in a car that won’t cool down. Somewhere between the toll plaza and the third detour, July changed. 1. Air You Can Wear July humidity in Pennsylvania keeps setting marks nobody asked for. Philadelphia spent early summer 2025…
Somewhere on I-75 right now, a family from Michigan is scanning the roadside for peach trees and seeing nothing but pines. They’ll reach the Florida line still waiting. Much of what the rest of the country assumes about Georgia falls apart on contact. These are the things out-of-staters always get wrong about Georgia. Psst! How…
Moving trucks can’t hold everything. But y’all always fits in the front seat when Texans move out of state. These are the habits that follow Texans wherever they move. Distance Measured in Hours Ask a Texan how far something is, and you’ll get a time, never a mileage. El Paso to Houston is a full…
What does it cost to love New York? More than some locals will admit. The bills arrive from every direction, January through December. These are the downsides of New York life that even the proudest locals complain about. 1. Leading the Nation in Property Taxes Westchester County homeowners pay the highest average property tax bill…
The cousin from Ohio starts in before the burgers leave the grill. Gas prices. Earthquakes. “You couldn’t pay me to live there.” The Californian at the picnic table just smiles and reaches for the potato salad. These are the things Californians are tired of defending. 1. “Everyone’s Leaving” The exodus story is stale. California’s population…
“Why do you stay?” New Yorkers field that question from relatives in Florida, coworkers in Texas, and seatmates on every flight out of LaGuardia. The answer takes longer than the flight. These are the things New Yorkers keep having to defend, and why they’ve stopped apologizing. The State Isn’t the City New York City covers…
How many times can one person explain that Arlington isn’t Washington, D.C.? Ask a Virginian. They’ve lost count. Here’s everything Virginians are tired of explaining to outsiders. It’s Not West Virginia Virginia and West Virginia went their separate ways in 1863, when the western counties refused to follow the rest of the state into the…
Order a cheesesteak with Swiss in Philadelphia, and watch how fast the line goes silent. Pennsylvania runs on unwritten rules, and out-of-staters break them within an hour of crossing the state line. These are the things you can’t say about Pennsylvania around a local. Wawa and Sheetz Are the Same Say this in Pennsylvania, and…
Every Georgian has a relative up north who saves their questions for the annual visit. You could give the answers in your sleep. And every summer, over a sweating glass of sweet tea, you go through them again anyway. These are the things Georgians are tired of hearing about their state. Say Something Southern Georgians…
Californians will criticize their own state for an hour, but heaven help the outsider who joins in. Gas prices, rent, the 405: The complaint license belongs to locals, and it doesn’t transfer. But underneath all that griping sits a long, satisfied list few people say out loud. These are the things Californians are secretly proud…
